Drawing on the idea of powerful knowledge, this open access book interrogates the epistemic quality of education in schools, in terms of what students are expected to know, make sense of and be able to do through the curriculum. In doing so the authors acknowledge the significance of transformation processes through which specialized knowledge, developed in subject disciplines, is reshaped and re-presented in educational environments. Moving beyond the narrow knowledge vs skills debate of the 20th century, the authors look at how we might democratise and open up access to 'knowledge of the powerful' for all through the school curriculum. Arising from the work of the Knowledge and Quality across School Subjects and Teacher Education network (KOSS), funded by the Swedish Research Council (2019-22), this book draws on studies conducted in a range of national contexts, including from Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the UK, and considers the implications for curriculum innovation at policy, programmatic and classroom level.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by Karlstad University.

Brian Hudson is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Sussex, UK, and Guest Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Karlstad University, Sweden. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, Honorary Member of EERA Network 27 Didactics – Learning and Teaching, and was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2004.

Niklas Gericke is Professor in Science Education at Karlstad University, Sweden, where he is Director of the Science, Mathematics and Engineering Education Research (SMEER) Research Centre. He is also Guest Professor at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway.

Christina Olin-Scheller is Professor in Educational Work at Karlstad University, Sweden, where she is Director of Centre of Language and Literature in Education (CSL) Research Centre and Co-Director of the Research on Subject-Specific Education (ROSE) Research Group. She coordinates the Swedish National Literacy Network and participates in the Nordic QUINT (Quality in Nordic Teaching) Research Centre.

Martin Stolare is Professor in History at Karlstad University, Sweden, where he is Co-Director of the ROSE (Research on Subject-Specific Education) Research Group and Senior Researcher at CSD (Centre for Social Science Education).